Alan wrote:
In message .com,
Taz wrote
Welcome Barbara. Still a relative newbie m'self, but they've been
nice to me so far. Soudns like you've got everything under control.
Make good use of the friendly folks here, won't you.

And I don't mind smileys.


Text smileys like the ones you are using are okay but Barbara is
using a web based interface called Gardenbanter that probably uses
picture smileys.

If Barbara includes a picture smiley her post may/will be dropped by
many proper news servers as it contains binary information for a text
only newsgroup. As a result many people will not see her
questions/answers.

It's all academic anyway as the vast majority of gardenbanterers arrive, say
hello, introduce themselves and maybe ask a question and then never return.